LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to somethingover there only because I amhere. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the pastas past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Friday, October 14, 2011

For --- ------, who commented in a seeming heartless manner

to an earlier Occupy Wall Street post. I didn't click to publish your comment because it revealed a heartlessness that was surprising in the context of the comments you make frequently at P T's. So it seemed more likely you hadn't yet had the opportunity to be more informed,

This, from an e-mail, came to me from a friend in MD this morning, in response to my earlier post below about Friendship and Lukács, which again, is more about the people being pushed into these camps and movements, due to the decades' long policies and activities of the corps, aided and abetted and enabled by the politicians.

[ "There's a family of five down the block from me. They don't have electricity. They were taking it from an empty house next door that was on the market and then sold. But an interfering neighbour found out they were doing that and told the seller so the seller had the electricity cut off. Now the family doesn't have electricity. I thought the house had been sold anyway, and who was it hurting that they were borrowing some electricity. They shouldn't have been tattled on. You're right. This winter is going to be cruel. " ]

What this meaness by the neighbors means is that when the freeze comes the family will try to keep their children from freezing by other means, means which could all too easily not only burn down their home, but all the homes around them. Meanness spreads in every widening circles of remorse -- except among those who are just plain mean, like the 1%, who are immune to remorse for the consequences to people of what they do.

And there is this -- and by golly it is in the NY Times today, the Times which has turned completely around on the Occupation movement. You can find a great deal of food for thought in this piece by Bernard E. Harcourt, "Occupy Wall Street's Political Disobedience."

In the meantime the clean up eviction of the occupiers of Zuccoti Park has been postponed, pissing off the mayor majorly. He is so SICK AND TIRED of these people. Who are ruining tourism and the rep of NYC as being a secure citadel for the class of the obscenely wealthy from all over the globe, a member of which, natch he is (though I am going to say this about the pouting mayor who really can't stand not getting his way and lashes out when he does: he, unlike most of the obscenely wealthy class, achieved his obscenely wealthy status pretty much by lifting his own bootstraps).
In another meantime, early this Friday morning in Milan, the Italian Occupiers managed to occupy the cathedral-like hall of Goldman Sachs, which is near to La Scala Opera House. Also, extremely polluted, going by the times I've been in Milan. They have no gas emmisions regulations or anything like that in Italy. I've literally become ill in Milan from the automotive pollution. This is how the Too Big To Fail Or To Punish demand to have it, you all. Can anyone be surprised that the Occupy movement in whatever form is demonstrating globally today?